Dayton police Sgt. Matt Beavers said the car was being driven at high speed northbound on Dover Street when it entered Xenia Avenue, hit a curb, took off at least seven feet into the air and grazed a utility pole before coming to rest sideways well inside a house at 633 Xenia Ave.
The house was being renovated and no one was inside at the time of the accident, which occurred at about 4 p.m. The house is situated on a short hill or incline above street level. According to witnesses, the grass from the sidewalk to the house was undisturbed in the accident.
An autopsy, which includes toxicology tests, is planned for Wednesday as police try to determine whether the driver suffered a medical emergency or whether drugs and/or alcohol might have played some part in an accident that left a neighborhood buzzing.
According to Beavers, surveillance video from the nearby East End Community Center captured the car, which appeared to be a dark sedan, coming to within inches of another car headed east on Xenia moments before plowing into the house.
Childress’ car missed the other car by about “a second, second-and-a-half,” Beavers said. A police department traffic services unit was on scene, trying to gather enough evidence through measurements to re-create what might have happened.
One witness, Justin Turpin, said, “we heard a guy coming about 100 miles an hour down the street and he drove straight past us, and without even trying to stop, he ran straight through the house.
“It was just whoosh and then he ran straight through the stop sign and straight through the house.”
Another witness, a woman who said she was able to get to the man to see whether he had a pulse, said his head was in the dashboard.
“People in the neighborhood are saying that yesterday he was coming down here flying around the neighborhood and I guess this time he didn’t stop, because they said kids, they had to jump out of the way,” the woman said.
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